Three new books released at the end of 2020. Three very different styles and content.
Pandemic produced in two weeks while in lockdown - ball point pen and acrylic wash. To My Country illustrated in Procreate on my iPad. Little Lion illustrated in Photoshop on my iMac.
Dippy and the Dinosaurs. Second book in the Dippy Series out soon. Fun look at Australia’s Mega Wombat.
Read MoreAfter nearly 10 years Ruben is finally in print. ‘Ruben needed to be different from anything else I had done before. It evolved during a time of self-doubt of my ability as an illustrator and storyteller. Ruben had to be more. It had to be the best I could be.’
I hope you like it.
Leigh Hobbs launched Ruben at the Hello from Australia stand in Bologna this week. Very cool! Many thanks Leigh and thank you too to Ann and Jess from Books Illustrated for organising the event and the amazing team at Scholastic for helping me get the book together: Andrew, Ana, Rebecca and Nicole. And special thanks to Rosie who's been with me every step of the way.
I have started to use ZBrush, an amazing sculpture program to create 3D reference material for some new work. Huge learning curve!!!!! So progress is slow. After modelling in Zbrush I take my 3D model into Cinema 4D which I am a little more familiar with to add the other elements and lighting. Final illustration is done in water colour.
ZBrush to Cinema 4D to Watercolour
Cyclone has been shortlisted for the NSW Young People's History Prize. Jackie as usual supplied me with an extraordinary text. I was possibly the most nervous I've ever been when delivering the art. I really wasn't sure I got it right. This was another project done with my left hand but reference material of the actual events or more importantly the people effected was limited. So it felt like a bit of an arm wrestle to get it done. Thanks to Nicole at Scholastic doing am amazing design job (again) it all came together.
Just finished upgrading my website. There's more to add but it's much more user friendly and I'll try and keep it up to date.
I've been experimenting with a new illustration style - virtual linocuts in Photoshop. I have tried to simulate the traditional linocut technique of cutting into a surface to leave the 'line'. I have two layers in Photoshop, for tradition sake the bottom layer is an off white and the top a dark ochre similar to a piece of lino. I add a third layer with my sketch and make it transparent and half strength so I can easily see through it. I then use a shaped rubber tool to 'cut' into the achre layer. When I'm finished I then take my cut layer and whack a texture on it.
